A variety of medical procedures, such as maxillofacial surgery, require the use of screws that are driven into a patient's bone and may at a later time be removed. Prior to being driven into the bone the screw must be maneuvered into place and following removal of the screw it is necessary to maneuver the screw out of the body without dropping the screw. A dropped screw may become lost inside the patient or may become located in a position from which it is difficult to remove.
Further in both installation of screws into bone and removal of screws from the bone it may be necessary to apply considerable torque to the screw. Thus, a secure coupling between the screwdriver tip and the screw is necessary to allow the transmission of such torque and to prevent undesirable lateral movement that may cause misalignment of the screw.
Finally there may be only restricted access to the patient site so use of a second apparatus to position or secure the screw may be impractical, such as when used through a cannula.
Thus, it is desirable to have a single apparatus that has a tip capable of securely and temporarily engaging and retaining the screw. Additionally, it is sometimes necessary to drive a screw with the axis of the blade at an angle to the axis of the screw, such as in difficult or minimally-invasive approaches.